Scientists Put Ants on Treadmills to Study Their Navigation Instincts

"What is this? A treadmill for ants?!"

By
David Grossman

Anyone who has ever been on a picnic can attest to ants' remarkable navigation skills. Their ability to navigate in a group is well documented, but less is known about how they get around on their own. To probe this mystery, scientists at the University of Freiburg have ants running on tiny treadmills.

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"This gives us almost unlimited possibilities to test the mechanisms and neural basis of our model animal's spatial orientation and navigation—in the laboratory," said Dr. Matthias Wittlinger, who led the study, in a press release. "We can place the ants in a virtual world and incorporate certain changes into it to see how they react."

Wittlinger compares his treadmill to a hamster wheel, and says the ants feel completely at home on it, unaware of the difference between it and their normal terrain. The idea is to see if the ant can get lost. First they travel about ten meters, and then get on the treadmill for a virtual journey home.

Wittlinger and his team found that the ants have a natural tendency to conserve energy. They move quickly on the initial homeward trip, but slow down once they get close to the general area of their nest to search the area. When the ants need to find a specific location, they take their time, but when they are simply traveling in a general direction, they work to cover as much ground as possible.